I'm plastic - it's fantastic

I'm a Barbie now, too! Steph has named me Shopping Barbie - and you know nothing makes me happier than that. :o)

Shopping Barbie is a fabulous red head who has an uncanny ability to find designer labels as bargain prices. Note her timeless Jackie O style - whether she's diving into bargain bins or beating down other shoppers with her purse - she always look chiche. Just look at that look in her eyes. It's the same crazed look I have on the morning after Thanksgiving! :o)

Now for the oath:

I promise to uphold the Barbie ways which include whining when you feel like it, being bitchy on cue and knowing that NO MATTER WHAT or WHO (yeah even if she is a rich, plastic surgery induced, exercise obsessed, bubble head) comes across your path - that you are Barbie.....beautiful and worthy!!! Size 6 or 60, Porsche or Pinto, flat belly and good boobs or pannus and dried prunes - we are AWESOME!!

BARBIE POWER!!!

Yay! That makes me happy. Thanks everyone for the well wishes. I'm still snotty and I'm starting to feel like a bit of a martyr for not calling in today, but at least the boss is out of town and I can do pretty much nothing all day. Thanks for the props to Jeremy, too. I'm really proud of him. The plan is to wait another year before looking for a church of our own. Since our pastor has left and we're right in the middle of setting up some youth programs, it would be too hard on our church to leave them. So that's the PLAN - but if I've learned anything this past year it would be that God's plans and my plans are two different things completely. I'm finally learning to not freak out when things don't go according to my plans.

I'm off to check in on all of you! Have a Great OP Day!

I'm snotty

Ick. I've somehow managed to get sick. I don't know if it's this summer cold or if it's all the dust I stirred up last week in my big office revamp or what. I just know that I hate being sick and I have the po pitifuls. I took some miracle drug this morning from the last time I was sick, and it'll help me get rid of all this junk. And if it works like last time, I'll have crazy energy and no appetite after a few days. Bonus! ;o)

I had a really good but busy weekend. We took my little BIL to see the Simpson's movie Friday night (it was hilarious, but some of the "badness" was unnecessary - I still loved it) and then Jesse spent the night. Saturday was dinner at my mom's for my grandma's b-day, and my step-brother who I haven't seen since 2000 (literally) came with his wife and son. It was nice to see him and meet his family - I just hope he starts coming around more often now that our parents have met his son. It would be even harder on them not to see their grandson now that they know him. (he's 2 1/2) Sunday was crazy busy with Jeremy being presented his ministerial license, our pastor retiring and a region meeting. After all that we went to Wal-Mart, and I saw this really pretty brown suit jacket. I grabbed the 16 - just to see how it looked - and it was too big. So I tried on the 14, and it fit okay, but I decided to try on the 12 just to see how tight it was and guess what? It fit like a glove! I could have totally worn that jacket last night out in public and not feel like it was pulling too tight in anywhere! I was totally blown away. Now, I know it could have been vanity sizing, or whatever, blah blah blah. I don't care. It was a 12!!! I'm still wearing my size 18 pants! I totally need to go shopping. I did finally buy some new panties, though. Although I'm still too cheap for VS, I no longer walk around in baggy bottomed granny panties. (they weren't granny panties when they fit!) :o)

So I'm super duper excited about that. I'm 2 seconds away from TOM so I'm not going to brave a dressing room for another week or so, but after that I'm all about some new clothes! yay!!

I hope you all had a great weekend, too, and have a great OP day!!

hullo

Hey gals! I've missed ya'll to bits and pieces, but I got so caught up with reorganizing here at work that I didn't have a spare second to check in. Sorry!!

Thanks for worrying about me! :o)

I've got a busy busy weekend planned and will do my best to make healthy choices when I can.

Since I don't have much time, I'm gonna stop short and check in on everyone.

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

RE-DO!

Well, it's Monday again, and I really wasn't ready for the weekend to be over. I don't feel like I accomplished the first thing (probably because I didn't) and now I want a "re-do". :o) I woke up this morning, surveyed my messy house and felt like a crappy wife. If I can't keep my house out of CHAOS while there's just the two of us, how can I ever hope to make it with children? So, I guess just like I'm trying to learn good eating habits, I need to try to learn good life habits.

I'm an all or nothing kind of girl - It's either gotta be perfect or I'm not going to bother to do it. That character trait controls everything I do. I don't like to learn how to do new things (ie: knitting) because I don't like to do things I'm not good at. And if I eat a little too much, I scrap the whole day and don't even bother trying to get OP. And if I don't have the time or energy to clean my house until it sparkles in every corner, I'll let it go until I do.

Since I've recognized this, I'm hoping that I can start changing this mindset because it's obviously holding me back.

I went Sunday to DB to have my bridesmaid dress altered. They wanted me to spend $100 in alterations! I told them, "Look, I'm sorry, but that's more than I paid for the dress. What's the bare minimum?" So, I got it down to $40 (which, by the way was just taking up the halter and putting in bra cups) and that's going to have to be good enough. I mean really, there's 5 of us - no one's going to be scrupulously looking at me - I'm just another bridesmaid! :o) I may be cheap, but I see no sense in paying out the butt for a dress that I'll never wear again. (and I'll never ever wear it again - it's SOOOOOO not my color!) :o) *sigh* But, of course, all of you are hearing this, because there's no way that I'm venting to my family and risk the chance of it getting back to Cyrena (the bride). She's got enough going on without worrying that her Future SIL is freaking out!! (I'm not really freaking...)

The luau was fun. Lots of yummy fruits and veggies (and mini quiche, cheese balls, cookies, and cake!) We have no idea how many points we ate, but since we filled up on the low point stuff it couldn't have been too bad. We just went easy for the rest of the evening and ate a couple of low point snacks.

I guess that's it. Now that one of my coworkers quit I feel like I have a ton of organizing to do, which is weird because the organizing has nothing to do with him. I guess I just want our office o have some sanity to it since we're one accountant down and it's liable to be stressful for the rest of the accountants. (There's only 3 of us here now) Lucky for me I'm just the office manager. A glorified secretary, really. My job is much easier. (and my paycheck is much smaller!) So I guess I better check in with ya'll before while it's still calm!

Have a great OP day!!

it's good to be back

I'm sooo glad that I switched back to Flex. I know that counting points gets old, but it really is a good program, and we all know that it works. I'm really glad that I tried SB, though, because it introduced me to some yummy low point foods. Turkey bacon is my new thing, and it's only 1 point a piece. I'm eating almonds at least once a day now, and although they're a little pointy, I can make 15 of those babies last for 30 minutes. Kraft has a 2% Cheddar stick (I'm not positive of what they're exact name is) that's only 2 points and it is delicious. And, of course, I'm still eating the spinach quiche, which are 3 points for two, or 1 point for one. (that's crazy WW math for you) They're a great source of protein and a veggie on the go.

It's a nice rainy day here in Northern Alabama, and normally I'd be thrilled about that, seeing as how we're going through the worst draught in 50 years, but our A/C went out yesterday and the repair guy is coming today. Something tells me that he won't be able to work that efficiently in the rain. I don't know if I can handle a weekend without my A/C! :o) We might be spending a lot of time away from the house.

Today is my coworker Paul's last day here and he's chosen KFC for his going away party lunch. I was a little freaked out about it, but then I looked up the points for some stuff there and it won't be too pointy - as long as I resist that yummy fried chicken skin! Tomorrow is our pastor and his wives's retirement luau, and I'm sure there will be lost of yummy temptations there, too, but I expect fruit and veggies and I might have a little piece of cake. It'll be easier with Jeremy there with me - for once I won't be tempted by what's on his plate! He's doing really well with counting points. He's lost about 4 pounds and says he wants to get down to around 160 (which, according to that Shape Ideal Body Weight Calculator, is his healthy range) I keep telling him that I think that's too skinny, but then I thought "What if someone told me my goal, which is in my healthy range, was too skinny?" I guess I have a double standard. :o)

I walked with Mom for a long time yesterday, but she has lupus and I can't walk too fast with her. I just don't want to push her, because she rarely says, "I can't do this." She refuses to recognize that she has different abilities from everyone else, and while that's a good thing (she doesn't just lay around all the time) it makes it kinda hard to gauge how she's holding up. (while walking, shopping, cooking, or painting her kitchen) I'm glad we have the time together, though. I keep telling her that we're going shopping just as soon as I hit 185, but I keep being few pounds short of it. Maybe in a couple of weeks we can go and I can get a few things to stretch my wardrobe.

Alright, I'm rambling now because watching the rain outside is so conducive to writing my thoughts (aka Carrie Bradshaw!) so I'm going to stop now and check in on all of you.

I hope you're having a fabulous Friday and have a fantastic OP weekend!

rehab is for quitters

I quit South Beach! It was just waaay too limiting, and too difficult for Jeremy to be counting points while I was doing it.

After the funeral yesterday, Jeremy and I were starving and exhausted (mentally and physically) so we decided that we'd grab something to eat before taking me back to work. We were limited in restaurant choices in the area, and after a tiffle of "I can't don't know points for there" and "I can't eat SB there!" we pulled into McDonald's. I figured I'd get a salad, although our McD's have bad salad reputations. (as in, they're so not fresh they're rotten) I ordered the infamous Southwestern Salad (or whatever it's called - you know the one that Colette has raved about so much that Hungry Girl herself had to review?) and when I got it I thought, "This has corn in it. These has some sort of glaze on it. This has these yummy little chips and this delicious dressing. This is not South Beach!" and then I started tuckin it in. That's when I realized that I couldn't do South Beach. There was no way that I could eat that yummy and pretty healthy salad and make up for it on SB. There's no leeway there. And a world where I can't eat that salad (which satisfied me in a way that no salad has ever been able to) is not a world that I want to live in. So, I'm no longer making myself the guinea pig. I wouldn't even say, "South Beach isn't for me" - I'd say, "South Beach is Flicktarded" (no offense, Dr. Agatston) I'm going back to WW! I'm counting points again and I'm going to stop trying to find an easy way out. GAH!

We didn't make it jogging yesterday. We were just too tired. I think I'm going to ditch my husband and just try to do it on my own. I'm walking with mom tonight, so I won't be running then, but I'll figure something out. It's just so stinkin hot here and I can't run alone at night because the track is scary then. I'll figure it out. I love that so many people are doing CP25K, but it honestly makes me feel sorta guilty that I haven't had the first successful run after instigating this.

I had enough energy, however, to go to my favorite Mexican restaurant last night and chow down. (and I thought of you, StrawGirl!!) I over did it on the chips, but there's little suprise in that. I hadn't had any carbs in 3 days, and I was definitely feeling that chips and queso. (oh and the guac!!) And I convinced Jeremy that we needed to have the same WW starting day so our WP's and everything will be on track. I really had to beg him to take me to Fiesta Mexicana - he was wanting to be so good and stick with it. Come on - he had WP's! That's what they're for! ;o) So I got my fix and maybe I'll be good for another couple of weeks.

I don't have much else to say (I know *shocker*) so I guess I'll check in on all of you. I hope ya'll have a wonderful OP day! (only one left until Friday!!)

risque business

Thanks for all the encouraging comments! I love you guys!! Awww!

Yesterday on SB went okay. Although I proally didn't drink enough water, I was pretty OP. I even tried this dessert from the book. It sounds funky and the texture was a little weird, but it was actually quite tasty:

1/2 cup part skim ricotta
1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla flavoring
1 packet of sugar substitute (I used bootleg Equal)

You just mix it all together and relish. I might use my mixer next time and try to work out the little ricotta clumps. (I'm pretty picky about my food textures) They have several versions of this in the book (including one with mini dark chocolate chips) so I'm bound to experiment.

Jeremy had to go to a board meeting last night, and I decided that I would mow the lawn for him while he was gone. I proally pushed mowed for an hour or so and when I came in I thought, "Oh, I told Randi that would lift weights tonight" so I picked up the new five pound handweights and did like 5 reps on each arm and had to stop. Push mowing is hard work! :o) I was just give out, and I figured that since a good bit of it was up hill, I'd gotten in some pretty good resistance exercise, anyways. And it made the hub happy. So, all in all a good night.

Today is day two for CP25K. Just before we fell asleep last night I asked Jeremy if he was up for running tonight and he said, "*sigh* Are YOU up to it?" Hells yeah I am! He obviously thinks I'm weak and I obviously have to prove him wrong. He didn't mention, however, that I was able to push the broke down riding mower back to her home all by myself when last time he had to call me out there to help him. He could even budge it without me and I did it by myself!! How convienient of him not to notice, eh? ;o) So, wish me luck. Even if my entire bum falls off I'm not going to quit this time!!

Oh! and a little NSV: I'm wearing a sleeve-less shirt out in public for the first time in years. I have a funeral to go to this afternoon and will put my jacket on then, but for now I'm showin some skin, baby! :o)

I hope everyone has a wonderful OP day!!

*so stinkin frustrated!*

I did pretty good yesterday on SB. It was hard, but not horrible. I think the hardest part was just not having any sugar at all and being drained. I think I can handle this for another 13 days. Besides, they say that the first 3 are the hardest - one down 2 to go. So that's gravy.

I'm super frustrated about my non-skills as a runner. The hub and I went to the track around 8 last night and began the program. We were through our 3rd cycle (there's 8 total this week) and I start having these serious pains in my left butt cheek. It was horrible. I was gasping for air (because I'm out of shape) and I was gasping in pain and we were forever away from the truck.

Long story short, we had to call it quits and for the first time in my life I was embarrassed in front of Jeremy. It was bad and now my husband must think I'm this huge wimp when I was going to prove to him how strong I am. But it's in the past now. I'm going to try again on Wednesday, making sure I stretch out really well. I don't know if it's a muscle thing or a pinched nerve, because this has happened before while I was bowling or just goofing off at church - but never to this level because I never had to walk back with it acting up before.

*shrugs* I'm out of shape. No one said it was easy to get in shape and since I've never been in shape I have nearly 25 years worth of training to do. But I will do it!

I'm going to go check in on everyone else, but I hope ya'll have a great OP day!

Day One

So I started South Beach this morning and I will start CP25K this evening. I'm nervous about both but I'm pretty determined to succeed. Especially with CP25K. Honestly, this SB thing is just an experiment, but it would be nice to drop a few pounds quickly. Phase 1 is extremely limiting - no oatmeal & no fruit (unless you count tomatoes...) but I believe I can handle it for 2 weeks. Although you can go longer than that, I'm not going to, no matter how much weight I'm losing. It just seems like trying to go too long on such a limited menu will just ultimately make you burn out.

So for breakfast this morning I had a Crustless Mini Spinach Quiche with 2 slices of turkey bacon. I got the quiche recipe from the SB book, and it was pretty tasty. I made six of them last night and I just heated one up once I got to work. Turkey bacon - why have I never had this stuff before? It was really really good and it crisped up perfectly in the mike here at work. Maybe it's just because I haven't had real bacon in so long, but I'm diggin this stuff. You can have 2 slices a day, and I think it's going to be a breakfast staple for me. It was hard to not have my oatmeal - I'm such a creature of habit! Hopefully this will stick with me for a long time. I'm supposed to eat a little snack around 10:30, so surely I'll be good until then. I'm also drinking coffee and skim milk.

Lunch will be some chili that I made up last night. I don't know if it's technically SB. I mean all the ingredients are, but all the recipes in the book are these dainty fru fru meals and this chili is nice and hearty. I'm not going to worry about it. I know that the ground beef is low fat and that the beans and tomatoes are healthy and full of fiber. I also have some almonds for a snack. It didn't specify in the foods list, but in the book it says that you're supposed to have salt-free nuts. Of course, mine are salted, but I've already bought them and they're waay too expensive to waste. I know excessive salt will make me retain water, but *shrugs* this diet is so limiting that there's no way that I can be perfect. I'm making a good effort, though, and that's what counts.

Okay, I know I'm rambling on, but brace yourself, Effie, I still have lots more to say. :o)

We went on an impromptu camping trip Friday night. It was really fun, but the camp site was a little over run and the bathhouse was in horrible shape (though the toilets were pretty clean...). We got a spot right in front of the river that we fished in the next morning. (I caught the biggest fish, btw!) So I used this unexpected time alone with the hub to discuss nutrition. I told him that I didn't feel like he need to lose weight but that I wanted him to have healthier eating habits. I said that it won't do any good for me to be eating healthily in front of our children if he doesn't, too. I said that I was starting SB this morning, and I would really like it if he at least ate supportively. So he agreed, and I was surprised.

What shocked me even more is when we went grocery shopping last night and he said that he was going to start counting points. Now a part of me is a little put off by this because I went at it alone for so long, but most of me knows that this is a good thing. So hopefully he'll keep it up. I casually asked him if he was interested in going walking/jogging with me tonight and he said, "Sure". So maybe if he starts working out with me I'll be more inclined to do it more often, since I know that a lot of times I don't work out because I want to be home. I was really looking forward to jamming out with my ilo, though. Maybe I still will. :o)

I suppose that's about it. My tum is still being weird, although I'm "going" now. (TMI?) I keep having these pangs and have to rush to the bathroom. I can't talk to my mom about it because then she'll swear it's my gallbladder and I'll have to go to some doctor. (I HATE doctors) So that's why ya'll have to hear about it. Sorry!

On that note, I'm signing off. I hope everyone has a fabulous OP day!!

yay! It's Friday!

VBS is over! I had a really good time, and it was nice to see our kids every day, but they wear me out. I'm looking forward to getting to go home after work tonight and stay home. Maybe it'll stop raining by then I can take a nice little swim in my pool. :o)

The scale this morning said 189.3. Of course it made me happy to see it going down, but I've gotta assume that the gain was water weight. I haven't been doing too terribly this week, but I haven't journaled and I know I ate more than what would justify actual pounds lost. I'm just glad to be getting back on track. Amanda (StrawGirl) suggested I check out South Beach (because it offers nuts) and I'm going to have to do my research. Phase One looks pretty restrictive, but that only lasts for 2 weeks. My main qualm with it is that I eat oatmeal EVERY morning, and you can't have that on Phase One. We'll see. I think food limiting diets are a little ridiculous, but I'd like to do something that #1) helps me play catch-up and #2) gives me a sort of detox.

I got a call from my Kelley that said my bridesmaid dress is in and I need to get fitted. I think that I'm a 14 by now, but at least since I ordered the 16 I won't have to worry about squeezing into it - they can just size it down. I really need to do some arm exercises. I've done some here and there and I can see an improvement, but the more weight I lose, the more flabby I get, and while my arms may be smaller I still have batwings. So, there's another reason why I need to be doing weight training. I'm still looking for a program online, but I might just do what I know will work. Maybe that can get me along until I can join a gym.

I'm so glad it's Friday! I plan to stay home a lot this weekend and catch up on housework and sleep. It should be a good time! :o)

I hope all of you have a fabulous Friday and a great OP weekend!!

*Rocky Theme Song Playing in the Back Ground*

I'm starting Couch Potato to 5K (from hence forth to be called CP25K) on Monday. I'm nervous and more than a little apprehensive, but I'm determined. My girl Erica is starting Monday, too. I'm trying to talk her into starting a blog here so that she can be encouraged by you lovely ladies as much as I have.

All's I need is a new pair of kicks and a el cheapo digital watch and I'm all set. This weekend I'm gonna fill my ilo full of pumping songs so if any of ya'll have a must have favorite workout tune, lemme know. Personally mine is "No Diggity" by BlackStreet and "Bow Tie" from OutKast (which is just hilarious, because I'm as white as they come...) (ps: "no diggity" is really filthy - but I can't help loving it! I have the edited version so that I don't feel quite as bad about it!)

I'm also taking Randi's advice and doing strength training on my "off" days. I don't know what or how yet, but I realize that I can't make sure I'm burning off fat and gaining muscle without it.

I'm trying to find some sort of nutritional food plan to follow. I really like what everyone is saying about "eating to fuel myself". I hate the fact that I don't eat stuff like almonds because they're not core and they're too point expensive. We'll see. I mean, I won't really be getting healthy if I'm just losing weight eating ff popcorn, now will I?

I think that's enough for now. I still encourage anyone who wants to join in the CP25K challenge to come right on! Here's a link with more info about it: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

This blog has taken me like an hour to write because I'm so ADD today, so sorry if it's choppy. I hope you all have a wonderful OP day!

PS: Erica has finally joined our community! Check her out at http://dancingqueen629.blogspot.com/

such a crazy coincidence!

Since I posted last I've been talking to my best friend from high school, Erica. We think we're going to do Couch Potato to 5K! Yay! It would be awesome if we could all do it together! She lives like 30 miles from here so I'll be training solo but we're looking at marathons in our area to get ramped up about. I'm excited!

Lemme know if ya'll decide to do it, and anyone else who wants to should join in, too. It'd be great to have so many accountability partners!

*claps hands excitedly!*

so much for that!

So I pitched the Curves idea to Jeremy last night and he wasn't too excited about the start up fee. In fact, his exact words were "why don't you use that elliptical we bought a year ago and then if you know you're going to stick to it then maybe you can join." *rolls eyes* Thanks, Babe. Way to make me feel like I can do this.

I totally understand his point, though. It's just not what I wanted to hear. So I guess my goal is to "prove" to him that I'll stick to an exercise regime and then maybe I can join a gym. It sounds like from your comments (btw - thanks so much for all the info!!) that if I actually work out long enough to show that I'm sticking to it then I'll probably be more advanced than the Curves level. (ummm... I hope that made sense)

Soo... we're back to square one. But the whole point of going to Curves vs one of the other four gyms offered in our area is that at least with a bunch of old ladies I wouldn't feel self conscious. So maybe if I work out on my own for a while I won't feel as self conscious at one of the more serious gyms. There's this one place that's open 24/7 (which is a big deal in small town Athens) and is pretty much for serious workouters. It's always intimidated me before, but maybe it won't eventually. The whole point of a gym, for me, isn't necessarily the cardio aspect, but more of the weights. I can do cardio on my own if I set my mind to it, but I think I need to build muscle, too. My previous job was a pharmacy technician, and part of it required me to lift and carry these 30 pound boxes of IV fluids to the different med stations. My arms were so strong back then! Of course, it was the physical demands that ultimately made me want to switch jobs (that and the drama) but now I have a desk job and I can barely handle carrying a box filled with paper. I want to be strong again.

When we were camping all of the fishing sites were down these steep inclines. They had paths cleared, but the trip back up was killer. We made the trek a couple of times, but eventually we had to find a place that was easier to access because my legs were all jello like. We still had some great scenery, but we were at a boat launch, so of course, there were lots of motor boats and people. Had I been able to hack the trails then we would have been able to be secluded right on the water. I want to be able to handle the physical demands of an active life. I want to be able to kick my husbands butt! ;o)

So, yet again I'm going to try to find something that will work for me. I'd like to be a runner, but I never seem to have the gumption to start. Maybe this whole "proving myself" thing will help.

Thanks again for all your support! I love you guys!!

Have a great OP day!

Curves

During my lunch break I visited our local branch of Curves. I wanted to see about their operating hours, costs, and a few other things, and since the website wasn't too location specific my only choice was to visit them in person.

I talked to a very nice lady who owned the place and was pleased to see that she was nice and fit, but not too skinny. (I feel more comfortable with people who actually look like they work out owning workout facilities) While I was there I told her that I'd been doing WW and have lost about 40 lbs. She was really excited for me and encouraged the idea of starting an exercise routine. Then she wanted to check my body fat %. Bleah.

Here's how it went down:

Using the Tanita Body Composition Analyzer -

Weight: 190 (a little less than mine this morning - yay!)
BMI: 32.6
Fat %: 40.2%
Fat Mass: 76.4 lb

Desirable Range:
Fat %: 17-24%
Fat Mass: 23.2-35.81lb

Target Body Fat%: 23%
Predicted Weight: 147.6lb
Predicted Fat Mass: 34.01lb
Fat to Lose: 42.4lb

The downside is that the beginning cost is like $147 with a $33 a month charge. They've got a deal going that you can exercise the rest of the summer for free, but you still have to pay the beginning cost. I really think that I'd like it, but Jeremy is always hesitant to shell out money for something that I might not like. We have a coupon from one of those coupon books here at work for a free week of working out at our Curves - but I don't know if they'll let me use it. We'll see.

Have any of you been to Curves or know anyone that has? I obviously need to lose some of this body fat. Nearly 77 pounds of fat is just waaay too much for me to handle.

Let me know what ya'll think & thanks for all of the encouraging comments!!

lost and found

One week. Seven days. 168 hours. That's how long I've been totally off plan, and it's gotta stop.

I got on the scale this morning and it said 193. This time last week it was saying 187. That's so not good that I don't even really want to think about it. But I HAVE to address this because if I don't it'll just keep spiraling out of control.

I knew I went a little overboard on the 4th, and I knew that I wasn't making the healthiest choices while camping, but I thought that I could reel it back in when we came home. No such luck. We eat at the church every night for VBS and the food is so stinking good that I don't resist. Sunday night was pancake night. Did I skip the "better butter"? (which is real butter mixed with Olive Oil) nope. Did I say, "hey here's some sugar free syrup, let's make a healthier choice?" nope. Even last night, which was Hamburger night, I could have ate a ton of the raw veggies there but did I? no way. I didn't even give up the cake like I had promised I would. In fact, I cut myself a bigger slice of cake than was cut for the kiddos. Fortunately I realized what I had done and only had about five bites, but COME ON! What gives?

I'm beginning to think that it's never going to come naturally to me. I'm always going to have to think about what I'm eating. I believe Colette (pardon me if I'm wrong) blogged recently about a friend of her child's asking "are you ever going to not be on a diet?" and when I read that I thought, "I'm not." There's never going to be a point when I just magically make Skinny Girl choices. It'll be a constant battle, BUT it's worth it.

I was thinking about all this this morning when I weighed myself and I thought, "I'm not going to be able to get back on track as long as VBS is running" then I realized that I need to practice what I preach. I've said countless times to ya'll to just start over RIGHT NOW - not tomorrow or next week because then it might not ever happen. So I'm starting over again. (AGAIN!!!)

I know some of the weight may be because of (TMI ALERT!) the fact that I didn't do "#2" the entire time I was away, and I know that I'm not completely cleaned out (so to speak). I just couldn't go in the woods. I may be Nature Girl now, but I'm not Gorilla Woman. I also know for a fact that I didn't get enough water because I battled an on coming UTI the entire time. So maybe after a few days of system flushing I'll lose some of the found weight. I'm thinking about researching colon cleanses, too. Note the words "thinking" and "researching" - I believe that it could be beneficial (from what I know about it) but I also believe that some stuff is a hoax.

Speaking of hoax, I was trying to figure out yesterday what I can do differently to try to get ramped back up about losing weight. There's a lot of crap and gimmicks out there, but I'm hoping that today I'll find something that will work for me. I know that WW works, but I need something new to be excited about for a little while to boost me and then maybe I'll switch back to flex. (or I might just do Core again for a little while...)

So I'm totally up for suggestions. I WILL do better tonight at VBS and not see that bounty of food as a free for all for Mandy. I WILL drink mucho mucho water today and continue to do so until I feel like a camel. I'm really trying to cut out caffeine and am seriously considering reducing the amounts of aspartame I consume. It's an insane amount, and they say it's not good for you. (It's also not good to be overweight, though, and I'll chose aspartame over flab if it comes down to it)

So that's enough garbadly gook for today. Thanks for hanging in there with me and getting to the end of this blog!!

I hope everyone has a great OP day!

the lemming

*thanks, collette, for giving me the link to help me fix my "won't let me insert a title" problem. For those of you having the same thing, here's the link she gave me: http://bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/2007/07/entering-title-in-new-post-isnt-easy.html *

I back from camping - yay! I blogged a little about it on weightwatchen, but it's nothing too excited. I'm honestly a little too shell-shocked to regale stories yet. It's hard to get back to the real world (one with four walls and a roof that doesn't leak!!)

I've thought about it while I was away, and I really think that I'm keeping my blog here. I like it here a lot and as someone else said, I really like that I can really keep up with you guys. I honestly was only moving because I assumed that everyone else would, too. I'm such a lemming! :o)

I'm going to spend the rest of my free time here at work trying to catch up with all of you, but I will say that our 3 day camping extravaganza has seemed to turn me into the outdoors type. I've found that I absolutely love to fish! Can you imagine that? I'm so OCD that I don't like for my hands to get dirty, but I can bait my own hook and take my own fish off said hook.

Look at me - I'm Nature Girl!! :oP

MIA

I'm probably going to be MIA from our community for the rest of the week because today is my Friday. Yay!! We worked it out at church to be off Sunday morning, so we won't come home from our trip until Sunday afternoon.

I didn't make it to WI last night because I was sent to the storage building around 2:30 yesterday to find some dead files. I ended up so dirty and sweaty that I was too embarrassed to go. So I didn't. My scale at home is holding pretty steady around 187, though. That's around five pounds less than what I weighed on last Monday, so I'm making progress.

I've got a ton of stuff to do today since I'm not going to be at work the rest of the week, so I'm going to have to spare ya'll of having to read my daily novellas, but I hope everyone has a great, safe, and OP Fourth of July and a great rest of the week. I'll miss you!! :o)

oh but it was good!

Good Morning All!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I sure did.

We were riding around Saturday and noticed that a storm was coming towards us (my hubby is a weather nut) so we went to a nearby lake to watch it cross. Well, since the storm fell apart before it got to us and I really wanted to see some action, we went storm chasin' and got lost! It was great - I love being lost and having an adventure. We eventually found ourselves and headed home. We realized that we had made a huge oval in North Alabama. :o)

Sunday was good, too. After church it poured, and I watched the storm in our sun room while Jeremy napped. We then went to Wal-Mart to buy another tent (the one we'd bought the day before was waaay too small) and ended up buying fishing rods and licenses for our trip. It's going to be so much fun! I'm excited.

Oh! and my MIL brought over some of her garden's veggies on Friday so I ate fresh tomato sandwiches with cucumber chips all weekend. Yumo! The only problem was that I didn't eat enough protein so by Sunday night my sugar was out of whack and I was on the verge of going crazy. (does anyone else do this? I'm hypoglycemic - but does anyone else turn into a monster for food?) I HAD to have a burger, so we went by Burger King and I got a Whopper, Jr. (should have ordered it without mayo, but I didn't!) and I shared some onion rings with hubby. Not exactly nutritious, but it was exactly what I had to have. (I'm sure my upcoming TOM (again!!) didn't help the situation) So I'll just drink extra water today and hope it doesn't undo all my hard work at WI.

But you know, it might hurt tonight, but it's not going to undo all the work that I've done permanently. Over all last week I made really good choices, so I'm not going to beat myself up over a burger that used my WP's right before WI. :o)

Have a grandola granola OP day!!